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A letter of request to the office of the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser

November 14, 2007

Dear Ms. Fraser,

We are writing you today in your capacity as the head of the office of Canada that holds the government to account for its stewardship of public funds.  We trust in your commitment and ability to serve the people of Canada in this capacity and we continually see from your record that you have the interests of Canadians at heart.  In this spirit, we would like to draw your attention to several issues, that when taken together, give us great cause for concern.

Firstly, there is the issue of advertising spending on the part of candidates of the Conservative Party, during the last election.  It is shocking that the Conservative Party spent $1-million over their legal spending limit.  It is incredulous that a minority party has such excess, when a donations cap of $1100.00 per individual, and no corporate donations, is the law.  We understand that the Conservative Party is challenging the ruling from Elections Canada, in court.  But it is a speedy resolution that is required.

At the same time, we believe that a Department of Elections Canada needs to be investigated itself.  On October 12, 2006, at the request of the Broadcasting Arbitrator, we attended a meeting for the allocation of broadcast time during an election.  Even though we were not legally required to attend the meeting, according to Elections Canada, our vote counted when the vote to allocate broadcast time was taken amongst all parties.  The result of the vote was that 10 parties of the 16 voted for equal time sharing of broadcast minutes at an election.  Because there was “no consensus”, the arbitrator was allowed, under the Act, to make the final decision.  The decision reverted to the status quo.  Mr. Grant told the meeting participants that the minutes would be destroyed, as it was an ‘in camera meeting’.  As an Eligible party, we wondered why taxpayers’ money was used for us to attend the meeting, where a democratic vote was not acknowledged in any case.  The bigger parties, who receive the most time for advertising at an election, were the ones that continued to receive the advantage.

It was also revealed to all of the participants, at that time, that even though there is a ceiling on advertising spending at election time, the arbitrator stated that sufficient money could get anyone as much advertising as he or she would want.  This could easily be accomplished by the larger parties but, as explained to us in a telephone conversation by Mr. Grant, December 6, 2006, it is only the major parties that have enough money to buy advertising.  It is therefore, nearly impossible for a smaller party to be able to afford the 6 minutes of advertising time allotted to it. 

The free time of 2 minutes can be offered to a small party at any (non-prime) time.

We are still of the belief that advertising time at an election should be divided equally among all parties, in order to inform all Canadians of issues.  Taxpayers’ money should be used to inform all Canadians, equally, as is their right. 

We would also like to voice our concern over another area of public trust.  Government spending on the Military Budget has been reported as $32.1 billion for the next five years.  What we want to know is, how can our legal debts to the Native people ever be paid if our spending in our military department is so excessive?  We do not understand how, as a Nation and a Government, we can be operating efficiently if our debts remain unpaid and our spending increases.  Our debt is reported as $481.5 billion. At the same time, the Canadian people have been told publicly by the government, that there is so much money in the government coffers right now, that it is difficult to know how to spend it. At the same time, thousands of jobs are being lost in the industrial sector.  A conservative estimate reports a surplus of $15 billion projected for 2007-2008.  We ask you, what is the sourceof all this money?

We understand that your office is responsible for performance audits and studies of federal departments.  What we are asking for is a special examination of the balance sheet of the government of Canada.  The government is to serve the people, rightly deserving of transparency in their government. A country or corporation that does not honour its contracts, with any or all of its people, is operating illegally.  We believe that this examination will reveal areas of great excess and areas of great debt.  If we are to be a balanced country, a nation that is capable of alleviating poverty and misery in its own people, of spreading the wealth among all, and of increasing peace and prosperity throughout the nation, it must begin with the governing heart of the country.

We are asking the Office of the Auditor General to conduct this examination, as part of its responsibility for the stewardship of public funds.  We ask that the results of the examination be truthfully revealed to the Canadian people. 

We thank you for your attention to this request.

Respectfully yours,

Roger Poisson

Leader, People’s Political Power Party of Canada

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